Inheritance

Late last night, I was throwing my large feather-down duvet onto my bed before climbing in and snuggling into it and I remembered that it was my late-Grandmother's.  And it got me thinking about all the things my family inherited from her after she passed away.

There are so many things in my house that my Grandma used in her everyday life and I now use the same things.  There's her knitting needles and cylinder.  They are all old and wonderfully used; and yet I've used a few of bamboo ones for scarves and flat work without having to go to expense of purchasing any new needles (well, okay, one pair for a Dr. Who scarf, but that was a necessity; and I've used them since).  Then, I have a pile of

Grandma's doilies.  She crocheted them while watching television; usually the tennis and quite a few of the family members got a good number of them each... and I got all the crochet hooks too, without a clue how to crochet!  The brown cylinder is a container Grandpa made to keep all the crochet hooks together; so Grandma didn't lose any.  How good was that?

Then, there was Grandma's cookbook - which Mum got.  It's full of wonderful recipes all written by hand.  It's a wonderful thing to see.  I love seeing it once in a while and would love to get it all written up properly and let everyone in the family have a good hard-cover copy each one day.

I also inherited Grandma's 1920's Paling & Sons 'Victor' upright piano.  And what a piano it is!  For about a decade, this sweet instrument was in storage because nobody had the room for it.  Then, around August last year, I move around some furniture and found the room and it's now in my humble home, all tuned up and I'm learning to play it.  And she just sounds wonderful!

And if it wasn't Grandma whose things were wonderful and lovely, it was Grandpa's.  He had his coin collection (which I don't know where that is) and his mouth organs; which I'm proud to say my older brother took up playing.  And Grandpa was a big reader too; and so I have a nice little collection of books that both Grandma and Grandpa had in their bookshelves at Tarragindi.  They are old and out-of-print, but in good condition.

And it isn't just my Mum's side of the family who have given us things.  Dad's side gave us some lovely things too.  Nan's organ is still around and I've gotten some funny books by Bill Cosby too.  Then, I received a lovely necklace in recent years and was told that my Nan remembered that once I admired it and I was to have it.  So, it's a part of my jewelry box now; and the funny thing is:  I don't remember looking at it, but I do remember the necklace.

Isn't it amazing how it's the things that we inherit in our lives that makes our families all the more closer? 

Sometimes it doesn't, but most times it does.  The times it doesn't is when people become petty about who wants what.  I love Grandma's piano and that she also gave me all the music that she collected together with it.  It's just a wonderfully beautiful instrument and I do look forward to learning more about it as the years pass.

So, what have you inherited - no matter how small or insignificant - that makes you remember your favourite Aunt or Grandparent?  And did you ever find out why they gave it to you?